French Fries: celebrating the humble-but-mighty

Thinly sliced strips of potato, fried quickly and seasoned. It’s a ridiculously simple process but one which gives us the magnificent French Fry: accompaniment to countless meals all over the world, and the perfect side for all out favourite meals at East Coast Kitchen.

There are two reasons to celebrate the French Fry this week: July 13th is national French Fry day, and Tuesday, le quatorze Juillet, is Bastille Day in France.

(Let’s just ignore the fact that the origin of French Fries is hotly disputed: legend has it that it was a Belgian creation, and it was British and US soldiers fighting in Belgium in WWI who first christened the French Fry, simply because they didn’t realise which country they were in at the time.)

At East Coast Kitchen, we get through hundreds of thousands of French fries every year. We use skin-on fries for extra flavour, they are always cooked in clean vegetable oil, at exactly 190 degrees, which makes them as crispy as possible.

We are getting more requests to do more with fries, though. We make our own seasoning salt to take the standard fry to the next level, using garlic, chilli and onion salt. But our discerning customers always want more – and we always aim to deliver, which is why we’ve introduced ‘wet fries’ to our menu.

This is basically fries with any combinations of toppings – as simple as cheese and/or gravy – but people are growing more elaborate in their requests. A current favourite is fries with chilli, cheese, sour cream and jalapenos to take away.

Not to mention the number of people of swear by dipping their fries in their strawberry milkshake… it’s not for us, but it’s incredibly popular – and just goes to show how versatile the humble French fry can be!